When news of raids on the tenants of the scam-buster trickled out this morning, Laloo Prasad contacted a confidant in Calcutta for details.

The former chief minister then waited for Biswas, whose tenacity led to Laloo Prasad’s incarceration in the fodder scam case and subsequent resignation, to react.

As soon as Biswas said he had no inkling of what his tenants were up to, Laloo Prasad struck back: “The defence of Mr Biswas that he was unaware of the entire episode holds little ground. How is this possible' If he could hear everything happening here in Patna from Calcutta, how come he did not know what was happening in his own house'”

The RJD leader demanded an “impartial probe into the case since nobody is above law”. “No one should try to manipulate the case. Anyone trying to do that will be caught.”

Laloo Prasad also told his party activists to circulate the news of the narcotics raids among his supporters.

Laloo Prasad, who is now an MP, said he would raise the issue in Parliament. “It is a case of conspiracy against the country and he should be arrested immediately as he had arrested me. He should defend himself in the court,” he said.

Biswas had not carried out the arrest despite an unusual attempt to marshal the services of the army to do so. But the then CBI officer had set off a dramatic chain of events, including an eight-hour grilling session, that led to Laloo Prasad’s fall.

Faced with imminent arrest, Laloo Prasad had surrendered before a court and was held in custody in a guesthouse in 1997.

“I wonder why Mr Biswas has not been booked along with the five foreigners who were arrested from a house owned by him with a huge quantity of banned substances,” Laloo Prasad said.

“How can a landlord, that too a police officer of eminence, rent his house without verifying the credentials of those hiring the premises' If somebody is found doing anything unlawful at 1 Anne Marg (the official residence of chief minister Rabri Devi), can she deny that she does not know the person'” he asked.